[Callers] Dances for 3-6 couples

Hi Will,
Thanks for those dances. Below are few that I've made up that people might
find useful for some variety. I also have a square based on Pride of the Dingle
(which is what I thought the dance was called) for experienced dancers if anyone
is interested.
Cheers, Bill
Triangle #1 3 couple circle July 2008
mixer corner progression
A1 Partner Dosido, RLG (3 hands), Partner Allemand Left 1
A2 (last few beats of previous AL then )Corner Swing
B1 Promenade, (back out) Circle Left
B2 Gents Star Right, Corner Allemand Left
Triangle #2 3 couple circle July 2008
mixer corner progression
A1 Forward and Back, Gents Star Right
A2 Corner (4 beat) Allemand Left, RLG (6 hands)
B1 Partner Dosido and Swing
B2 Promenade, Three Ladies Chain (*)
(*) Ladies leave partner, pass one gent, get courtesy turned by next
Triangle #3 3 couple circle July 2008
Keep partners
A1 Designated Couple Forward and Back, Pass thru, Separate go back home
A2 (all) Right hand balance, RLG (6 hands)
B1 Dosido partner, Swing Partner
B2 Circle Left, Circle Right
Designated can be #1, #2, #3, but also those in stripes, etc Dance inspired by
Phil Garland's Eternal Triangle dance collected in Aussie
Pentagon #1 5 couple circle July 2008
mixer period 5 dance
A1 Partner Dosido, RLG (4 hands)
A2 (next which is) Corner Dosido and Swing
B1 Promenade, (back out) Circle Left
B2 Five Ladies Chain (*), Forward and Back
(*) Ladies leave partner, pass one gent, get courtesy turned by next
Alt B2b: Five Ladies Chain (again, and use twirls to face)
This last dance is easy to demonstrate, but complicated to describe.
A "barn dance" version (with elbow swings rather than hand hold allemands)
is on video www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6bTMsVFf3E
New Zealand Sheepskin Triplet April 2007
Proper, 3x2x32bar cycle
A1 Gents Sheepskin Heye(*) around Ladies
A2 (continue)
B1 Gents lead down outside (8) Come back up
B2 Allemand Right Partner, Allemand Left Partner (8 beats each, same
distance each)
Repeat interchanging Ladies for Gents and Left for Right.
(*) Sheepskin Heye (Heye in Picking Up Sticks Playford (1651)) : #1 man
leads (no hands) other men up and around outside, weaving in between ladies #1
and #2 etc. BUT last man (#3) takes shortcut around middle lady to lead weaving
on the
way back, the new last man (#2) takes short cut around middle, and leads weaving
back down, then new last man (#1 again) takes short cut and leads all around
the outside completely back home. This produces a non-permuting version.
A permuting version modifies the Heye by having the last person take a fourth
short cut
and then leads all down around outside. This means after the Men do their hey,
they get
permuted to 3, 1, 2 and ladies are still 1, 2, 3 so the arm turns are with
non-partners.
After the ladies do their hey, both are permuted 3, 1, 2 and arm turns are with
partners once again.
Note the inactives can “help” by moving slightly forward and back to make the
weaving of the actives easier. Also the middle person can interact by reminding,
doing a complete turn with arm around, or just pointing at the shortcut
takers. However it is best to learn without this help, so as to be responsible
for the "shortcut" decision. The storyline being: "I'm tired of being at the
end, I'll take a short cut!"